John Everett Mitchell  

Funeral services for John Everett Mitchell, 69, of Nacogdoches, Texas will be held on Saturday, September 3, 2011 at 2:00 p.m. in the First United Methodist Church Sanctuary in Lufkin, Texas with the Reverend James H. Powell officiating. The faculty and staff of Lufkin High School will serve as honorary pallbearers. Visitation will be held on Friday, September 2, 2011 in the First United Methodist Church Youth/Family Worship Center from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. A family burial service will be held on Monday, September 5, 2011 at 11:00 a.m. at the Seaside Memorial Cemetery in Corpus Christi, Texas under the direction of the Memorial Oaks Funeral Home in Houston and Gipson Funeral Home in Lufkin. John Everett Mitchell was born on November 11, 1941 in Austin, Texas to B.C. and Vera Flynn Mitchell. He passed away on Sunday, August 28, 2011 at his brother's home in Houston. John Mitchell graduated from W.B. Ray High School in Corpus Christi, Texas in 1959. He received his Bachelor of Science degree in Secondary Education from Texas A&I in Kingsville in 1964, and his Master's degree in Secondary Education from Stephen F. Austin State University in 1986. John Mitchell was honored with numerous awards during his career, but one award held a special place in his heart; The Lillian B. Rhodes Award for Outstanding High School Teacher presented by the Texas Exes and the University of Texas at Austin in 2004. John Mitchell began his lifelong love of teaching in 1965 when he received his first teaching job in a small south Texas town, Premont. He taught English, Speech and Drama. Mr. Mitchell started a speech and debate team. Under his leadership, Premont High School was the smallest school to ever receive a charter and to qualify a student for the National Forensic League tournament. Nine years later he moved to Corpus Christi and taught at Richard King High School where he began teaching a Humanities course and drafted a course guide for an Advanced Placement Literature course in 1974. From there he moved to Houston to teach at Bellaire High School in 1981. John Mitchell began teaching at Central High School near Lufkin in 1984. In 1985 he was hired at Junior High West in Lufkin ISD and then moved to Lufkin High School in 1987. The guiding principle for John Mitchell's life as a teacher comes from the words of the prophet, Kahlil Gibran. When speaking of teaching, Gibran observes: 'If he is indeed wise, he does not bid you enter the house of his wisdom, but rather leads you to the threshold of your own mind. John Mitchell believed that his life as a teacher was to enable his students to obtain knowledge and then to apply that knowledge to life's situations. John believed that a teacher must never become so absorbed and proud of his own learning that he loses sight of the importance of the journey which leads to the acquisition of that knowledge. Teachers must serve as guides, motivators, and mediators. The teacher who serves his own wisdom and information may well enjoy his own performance, but he may cripple his students in their abilities to find and use knowledge on their own. The sacred charge of teachers is to enable students to acquire knowledge without us. John Mitchell lived this sacred charge every day in the classroom. He motivated, nurtured, challenged, and loved thousands of students throughout his forty six year journey as a teacher and his students loved and respected him. Mr. Mitchell's students refer to themselves as Mitchell children, a fitting way to acknowledge the impact that he has had on each and every student during his career as an educator. Mr. Mitchell has traveled with students all over the world where he made each country, each museum, each church; his living curriculum. John Mitchell will be truly missed, but his legacy will live on in the hearts of all who had the pleasure and honor of knowing and loving him. He is survived by his sister Dr. Carolyn B. Mitchell of Nacogdoches, Texas; his brother and sister-in-law, Joe K. and Becky Mitchell of Houston, Texas; his brother and sister-in-law, Mike and Renee Mitchell of Orange Grove, Texas; his niece Susan Galloway and her husband Keith of San Antonio, Texas and their children, Ryan Austin and Paige Marie; his niece Lori Woschnagg and her husband Bruno of Houston, Texas and their children, Caroline Grace and Bradley Mitchell; his niece Lisa Francis and her husband Steven of Virginia Beach, Virginia, and their children Jayna and Mitchell; his niece Debbie Baldeswichler and her husband Bobby of Orange Grove, Texas, and their children William and Wesley; his niece Rhonda Koeller and her husband Jim of San Antonio, Texas, and their children Randee and Maddee; his nephew John Joseph Williams and his wife Lisa of Orange Grove, Texas, and their children, John Joseph Williams II and Ali, Tristan , and Braelyn; his beloved companion, Precious,   Baby. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the Lufkin High School Alumni Association in the name of the John E. Mitchell Memorial Scholarship Fund, P.O. Box 150837, Lufkin, TX 75915, 936-632-4155, www.lhsaa.net. Condolences may be offered at www.gipsonfuneralhome.com Services have been placed in the trust of Gipson Funeral Home